


Duckburg Urban Legend Society

by KammieCeleek



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Crybaby Bridge, F/M, Gen, Mentions of Myth & Folklore, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Urban Legends, Violence, mentions of child death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29549526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KammieCeleek/pseuds/KammieCeleek
Summary: Every town has its stories and legends that are told and passed over the generations.  This is just a fact of life.  But when you've spent much of your life chasing the impossible around the world, maybe it's good to investigate closer to home.
Relationships: Daisy Duck/Donald Duck, Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck & Webby Vanderquack, Dewey Duck/Violet Sabrewing, Kit Cloudkicker/Della Duck
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Duckburg Urban Legend Society

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the Duckburg Urban Legends Society!
> 
> So full disclosure: this story was entirely inspired by the fact that urban legends are fascinating. And it's to educate about some of these legends as well as to entertain. Urban legends do have a tendency to be rather violent or gruesome or uncomfortable. They deal with themes of the human condition, psyche, and society as a whole that tend to stray towards the darker side of things and it can be terrible to think about.
> 
> This chapter in particular deals with mentions of child murder, horrific car accidents, and abandonment. Not to the characters but with the legend itself.
> 
> Reader discretion is advised.

Robyn silently cursed her luck as she stepped out of her car.

The party at her friend's house had run longer than she'd expected, making it past curfew. She was going to be in so much trouble when she got home. And to make matters worse, her car had stalled out in an area where there weren't any streetlamps. The only light was from her car headlights, making it clear she was on a bridge over a rushing creek. The annoyed teenager pulled her phone out of her pocket and was preparing to dial a number when she heard what at first she swore had to be the wind. Then it came again.

It was a baby's cry. She looked around and didn't see anyone except… she narrowed her eyes in the darkness. Was that… a _person_? They were running away from the bridge, somewhat illuminated by her headlights, and she rushed to the edge. Her eyes scanned the dark rushing water below but she saw nothing. Still there was the crying, growing ever louder as the footsteps faded into nothingness.

A chill ran up her spine. Robyn needed to get out of here, and quickly. She went to her car, only to discover some kind of powder on the seat. It smelled sweet, like the baby powder her aunt used on her cousin. And there were tiny wet footprints in the powder.

That was it. She was _out_.

She tried again to start the engine and this time it roared to life. She didn't care how mad her parents got about her being late. It was better than being that baby, apparently chucked over the side by some monster of a person. She'd get home and report this to the police.

But as she drove away from the bridge, memories of the person who'd been running faded away, too. All she could remember was the stalled car, the rushing water… and the ever eerie cry of a baby below.

* * *

Webby was bored.

For most of her life, she'd been researching Clan McDuck. It had been made easier by the fact that she lived in the manor of the one and only Scrooge McDuck and visited the ancestral home of the family on a couple occasions. Now she'd finished most of her work on the oldest parts of the lineage. All that remained was the present generations, who she was incredibly close to anyway (except for little Delilah, who was only four). There wasn't much left to learn.

She walked into her homeroom to start the day, as she always did, taking her seat at the front of the class and letting out a sigh as she sat down. It was gonna be just another day of trying to feign interest in subjects that were far more easy than her research had been. She wanted something, _anything_ , to catch her eye.

"Robyn, you're late!"

She sighed again as Robyn Meyers ran into the classroom, but then she noticed that Robyn's normally-neat brown hair was all tangled this morning, as if she hadn't had time to brush it. The popular girl was also lacking her normal makeup. This was odd.

"What happened to you?" asked one of Robyn's friends, Sara Chandler.

"You'll never believe it. It was so weird." Robyn spoke loud enough to get the attention of several people around her, all of whom took notice and hung onto her words. "I was driving home last night after the party and my car stopped on a bridge."

"Like, how?" chimed in Karen McNamara, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"I dunno. One minute I'm driving along and the next my engine stalls. So I get out to call someone because it's weird, right? Then I hear something."

 _This_ got Webby's attention.

"At first I was like, it's the wind, no big deal, but then it gets louder and I can hear it. A baby was crying. I looked over the side of the bridge and I didn't see anything, even with my flashlight. So I freaked out and got back in the car and it started no problem. My parents were flipping out when I got home but I can't stop thinking about that frigging baby."

Webby knit her eyebrows together. The story sounded… oddly specific. Quietly while the teacher was taking roll, she pulled out her phone and searched 'bridge', 'crying baby', and 'Duckburg'. It returned the legend of Crybaby Bridge, a rather specific bridge just outside Duckburg where supposedly you could hear the crying of an infant if you were there at the right time. An idea began to form in her head.

"Webby, please put your phone away," Mr. Boyle stated, glancing over his tablet at her. "It's time for morning announcements."

"Yes, sir!" Webby stuffed her phone into her pocket. She was just grateful that he wasn't the type of teacher to take a phone as soon as he saw it.

As soon as lunch came, she rushed to their normal table where Huey was writing something in a notebook while Dewey told some story from Coach Diaz's gym class and Violet had a book open on the table (though her eyes were on Dewey). Louie was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't unusual. He always took his time to get his things from his locker between his fourth period and lunch.

"Guys, I just had the best idea during homeroom this morning!" she announced, setting her stuff down and sliding into her spot. "We should go out to Beagle Bridge."

"What now?" Huey questioned, raising an eyebrow. Louie entered the cafeteria, sitting down with an expression that clearly stated he wasn't happy.

"I was in homeroom and Robyn Meyers came in late and she was telling this story about how she was out on a bridge and she heard a baby crying. But she didn't see anything. So I thought we should go check it out, just for funsies."

"Let me get this straight," Louie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We're going to a creepy-ass bridge in the middle of nowhere on the word of one of Sara Chandler's little minions?"

"It's not just on her word. There's all sorts of stories about Beagle Bridge being Duckburg's very own Crybaby Bridge."

"What's that?" Violet inquired, tilting her head.

Webby pulled out her phone and pulled up the article on her phone.

"They're bridges where babies were supposedly thrown over the side somehow. Sometimes it's an accident and a tragedy. Other times, the mom wants to get rid of it for some reason and fast."

"So who threw the baby?" Dewey asked.

"Nobody knows if it even actually happened. There were never any bodies or anything."

"Again, we're doing this off rumors and the story of a popular jerk?" Louie piped in.

"It could be interesting. Just going down there and checking it out," Huey mused.

"You can't _seriously_ be considering this. You're supposed to be the smart and rational one!"

"And the rational part of me says that while this probably isn't real, there wouldn't be any harm in checking it out. We'll be in a group, which makes it less likely for us to get hurt or lost."

"Safety in numbers," Violet agreed.

Louie took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

"Fine. I don't have anything better to do so I guess I'll come along."

"It's decided then!" Webby sang, bouncing in her chair slightly before leaping onto the table. "WE HAVE A NEW MYSTERY TO SOLVE!"

Silence fell over the crowded cafeteria as everyone stared at their table. Huey tugged at Webby's arm to bring her back down, but she didn't appear to notice all the stares or the snickers that came from the 'popular table'.

Louie glanced around and noticed that among the staring students was June Carlisle, the pretty captain of the roller derby team. Her brows were furrowed with concern as she looked at the table and then she locked eyes with him. He managed to tear his gaze away, pulling the hood of his sweatshirt over his face and tightening it as his cheeks burned bright red.

He hoped this wasn't a mistake.

* * *

"Okay, let's go over the checklist one more time."

Huey glanced back at where Webby, Violet, and Louie were sitting in the backseat with all the supplies they'd brought for this little excursion. The car itself was an old broken-down station wagon they'd fixed up with the help of their mother and stepfather and provided plenty of room for anything they might want to carry. Including the multitude of supplies for investigating an urban legend that more than likely was the product of gossipy old-timers trying to warn their kids away from driving in these areas.

"We went over it four times at the house," grumbled Louie.

"It never hurts to be prepared. Open the bag and we'll go over it. Last time, I promise."

"Fine." Louie unzipped the big bag that contained the items.

"Tape recorder." Louie held it up with an expression that was both exasperated and bored and Webby nodded.

"Check!" she chirped.

"Video camera." Once again, Louie held it up.

"Check!"

"Regular camera."

"Check!"

"Seven flashlights—one for each of us and two extras just in case."

"Got 'em!"

"Extra batteries."

"Right here!"

"And finally, water and snacks in case we're out here a while."

"Those are in a cooler in the backety-back," Webby replied. "But yeah, that's everything!"

"We're coming up on the bridge," Dewey announced.

Sure enough, a hand-painted sign said 'Beagle Bridge—1/4 Mile'. Webby passed a flashlight and the regular camera to Huey, keeping the small video camera for herself. They came to the bridge and Dewey left the headlights running, just for the sake of more lighting as they got out of the car and began looking around.

"This place is creepy as hell," Louie complained. "This is so stupid."

"It's not like you're missing a date to be here," Dewey snorted, rolling his eyes with a smirk. "Mostly because you're too scared to ask June out."

Louie was grateful for the relative darkness that hid his furious blush.

"We all know there's nothing out here. We're wasting time investigating something that's not even—"

A sound reached Louie's ears. He froze, cutting himself off as he looked around.

"What? What is it?" Webby whirled around, training the video camera on Louie.

"I dunno. Just the wind or something."

Then it came again, growing louder. The sound of a baby crying.

_Nope. Nope nope nope I'm out_ _**bye** _ _._

Louie shoved his flashlight in his hoodie pocket and ran for the car, slamming the door shut behind him. He wasn't gonna be stuck out there with the ghost of a dead baby that had been thrown off the bridge. His brothers and Webby appeared to not have noticed his swift departure, their attention on the water below and the woods surrounding the bridge. He was currently trying not to have a panic attack and was balancing his desire to go find the lost baby with his desire to _not die tonight_.

Movement caught his attention and he looked towards the front of the car. In the headlights, he could see the silhouette of someone running away from the bridge. He squinted, and he could see it belonged to a woman.

Outside, however, Dewey was growing impatient with the lack of visible results. There was only the crying of the baby, and he couldn't see anything from where they were on the bridge. The light of his flashlight just bounced off the water and the rocks. Maybe…

"I'm going down there," he told Huey.

"No, you're not!" Huey blinked in astonishment, though he really shouldn't have been surprised.

"We can't see anything from up here, so maybe we'll find something if we go down to the water!"

"You're _not_ jumping off a bridge in the middle of the night!"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not jumping off the bridge. I'm just going to climb down the rocks lining the creek and go down to the edge of the water."

"In the _dark_. NO!"

"I have a flashlight!"

"Which will be the same as nothing down there! The only thing you'll get from this, at best, is a cold!"

"Hey, boys?" Huey and Dewey snapped their heads to look at Violet, who was staring at something in the distance.

"What is it?" the eldest triplet asked her.

"Someone's out there. I saw them running."

Louie rolled down the window of the car.

"Guys, check out the front seat," he called.

Webby dashed over and sure enough, there was some kind of baby powder on the front seat. Tiny wet footprints were in the powder as if a baby had walked across it. Louie shook his head.

"Can we go? Please? You guys have plenty of evidence."

"Not until I go down to the creek—" Dewey started, but Huey pushed him towards the car.

"No, we're not going down there. Get in the car. We're going home."

Webby climbed into the back with Violet and Huey. The front passenger seat was left empty to preserve the footprints and baby powder. Dewey turned the car the rest of the way on and backed away, heading off the bridge and back onto the road. It wasn't long before they reached Violet's house and dropped her off.

At home, Dewey hooked up the video camera to his computer to upload the footage. He'd had an idea that he hadn't told any of the others about and to his delight, every bit of audio—the crying baby, the footsteps of someone running away, Louie's general fear of all this—was preserved perfectly.

_Perfect._

By the time the sun rose, a new web show had appeared.

_The Duckburg Urban Legend Society._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that concludes my first chapter.
> 
> I look forward to exploring more urban legends and ghost stories with you all. Current plans include a haunted doll and an extra-creepy babysitting job but I wanna hear and learn more stories. So if you know of an urban legend or extra-spooky ghost story we can bring to Duckburg, please let me know!
> 
> Special thanks to my friend Delly for beta-reading this chapter and bearing with me through it.
> 
> So long and thanks for all the fish!


End file.
